Adjustable key plug retainer



June 5, 1956 P. KUBIK ET AL ADJUSTABLE KEY PLUG RETAINER 2 Sheets-Sheet1 Filed Jan. 17, 1952 ATTORNEY mi M A N E mkw W J 1M f r Y B June 5,1956 P. P. KUBIK ET AL 2,748,590

ADJUSTABLE KEY PLUG RETAINER Filed Jan. 17, 1952 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 UnitedStates Patent ADJUSTABLE KEY PLUG RETAINER Paul P. Kubik, Bronx, N. Y.,and Raymond W. Schmid, Stamford, (102111., assignors to The Yale & TowneManufacturing Company, Stamford, Conn, a corporation of ConnecticutApplication January 17, 1952, Serial No. 266,949

3 Claims. (Cl. 70-367) This invention relates to that class of locks inwhich a rotating key plug is retained in a lock cylinder by means at theinner end of the key plug. It is desirable in locks of this class thatthe retaining means permit no end play of the key plug in the cylinderwhile retaining the key plug for free rotation in the cylinder- The keyplug inv such locks is retained by means that can be adjusted for thepurpose of establishing the small and exacting endwise clearance that isnecessary between the key plug and the cylinder, and it is to this typeof retainer that our invention relates.

As one feature of our invention, we utilize a threaded retainer coactingwith threads on the end of the'key plug, and a clip for holding in anadjusted position the threaded retainer. This clip maybe readily moved,to permit adjustment of the threaded retainer relatively to the plug,and in its preferred form the clip has arms that hold it upon theretainer and that yield to allow the clip to be moved to and from aposition in which it prevents rotation of the retainer. Thisconstruction is reliable and is particularly economical to manufactureand assemble.

As another feature of the invention, we arrange the. arms of the clip toembrace opposite parts of the periphery of a nut, that being thepreferred form of our retainer, a part of the clip then being held inposition to coact with, the key plug and with-detent surfaces on the nutto hold. the nut in all its positions of adjustment. Preferably thispart of the clip is arranged to engage in a slot that is formed in thekey plug when the keyway thereof is broached. Otherwise the connectingbar slot may be utilized and thereby no special formation of the keyplug is required for the particular purpose.

We have thus outlined rather broadly the more important features of ourinvention in order that the detailed description thereof that followsmay be better understood, and in order that our contribution to the artmay be better appreciated. There are, of course, additional features ofour invention that will be described hereinafter and. which will formthe subject of the claims appended hereto. Those skilled in the art willappreciate that the conception on which our disclosure is based mayreadily be utilized as a basis for the designing of other structures forcarrying out the several purposes of. our invention. It is important,therefore, that the claims. be regarded as including such equivalentconstructions as, do not depart from the spirit and scope of ourinvention, in order to prevent the appropriation of our invention bythose skilled in the art.

Referring now to the drawings:

Fig. 1 is a view showing in exploded relation the parts of oneembodiment of our invention.

Fig. 2 is an end view showing one form of knob shell that is adapted tobe used with our invention.

Fig. 3 is a longitudinal section showing the parts assembled in theknob.

Fig. 4 is a sectional view taken on the line 4-4 of Fig. 3.

Fig. 5 is a view showing in exploded relation the parts of a secondembodiment of our invention.

Fig. 6 is an end view of the same with the parts assembled.

Fig. 7 is a plan view of the same.

We have indicated by the numeral 10 the cylinder of a lock of the class.to which our invention relates, and the numeral 11 indicates the keyplug that rotates in the cylinder. The locking of the key plug iscontrolled through suitable tumblers 12, as is customary in looks ofthis class, and a diametrical slot 13 in the inner end of the key plug11 receives the end of a connecting bar 14, thereby afiiording meansthrough which the key plug rotates mechanism controlled by the lock. Atits outer end, the key plug 11 is integrally formed with the usualflange 15, and it is with this flange that the retaining means at theinner end of the key plug 11 coacts to establish the endwise clearanceof the key plug relatively to the cylinder 16.

In our invention, the key plug 11 is adjustably retained,

in the cylinder 10 through an extremely novel construction that, in theembodiment shown in Figs. 1 to 4, includes a nut 16 mounted on athreaded portion 17 of the key plug that projects from the inner end ofthe cylinder 10.. Because the nut 16 overlies the inner end of thecylinder 10, it does, of course, retain the key plug 11 in the cylinderand serves, when rotated relatively to the threaded portion 17, toadjust the end play of the key plug in the cylinder. In order to preventthe nut 16 from changing its adjustment once it has been properly set,we utilize a spring clip 18 that has at its ends a pair of convergentyielding arms H. The clip 18 is so proportioned that when it is insertedin the diametrical slot 13 of the key plug, its arms 19 may be sprungover opposite parts of the periphery of the nut 16, the ends of the armsthen. being disposed at a reduced part of the nut that is formed, forexample, by a groove 20 in the periphery of the nut, whereby the arms 19will by their convergent yielding nature hold the clip 18 upon the nut.

When the clip 18 is thus assembled with the nut 16 it. will be apparentthat the clip cannot rotate relatively tothe key plug 11 because of theposition of the clip in the slot 13. In order also to prevent rotationof the nut 16, the nut is formed with radially extending detentportions- 21 that preferably extend in a series around the entirecircumference of the nut. The arms 19 of the clip 18 may be applied tothe nut 16 between any of the detent portions 21, and because thesedetent portions are relatively numerous, it. will be seen that therotated positions inwhich the nut 16 may be held by the clip- 18 arequite close together so that very close adjustment of the key plug maybe obtained.

It will be understood that the slot 13 extends far enough into thethreaded portion 17 of the key plug to permit the clip 18- to beassembled properly with the nut 16. When the clip 18 is considerablythinner than the connecting bar 14, as is the case in the embodimentshown in Figs. 1 to 4, it is preferable to make that part of the slot 13in which the clip is engaged somewhat narrower than the outer part ofthe slot, as shownv at 13a, thereby reducing. the rotary movement of thenut 16- that would be permitted by looseness of the clip 18. in theslot. We also prefer to form the central portion of the clip 18 with acurvature in the plane of the slot, as shown at 22, this curvaturemaintaining the clip 18 properly oriented in the narrow portion 13a ofthe slot during the operation of applying the clip to the nut, andthereby simplifying the adjustment and assembly of the part.

We have shown in Figs. 1, 2 and 3 a knob construction with which ourinvention may be used. In this construction, the outer end of the lockcylinder 10 is integrally formed with a wide circular flange 23 thatforms the face of the knob. The knob is assembled by inserting the lockinto the front of a shell 24, the flange 23 then being secured in theend of the shell by detents 25 that form with the shell a bayonet joint.This use of our novel adjustable lock is merely illustrative, however,and is not intended to limit in any way the field of utility of ourinvention. 9

Figs. 5, 6 and 7 show another embodiment of our invention in which a nut26 is mounted upon the threaded portion 17 of the key plug 11 so as tohold the plug adjustably in the cylinder 10, as in the first form of ourinvention that we have described. In this embodiment, however, the nut26 has a circumferential series of radially extending detent portions 27adjacent one face of the nut, and the periphery of the nut at one sideof this series of detent portions has a regular form that is preferablycylindrical, as shown at 28. In order to prevent rotation of the nut 26in various adjusted positions of the nut relatively to the threadedportion 17 of the key plug, we utilize a clip that is indicatedgenerally by the numeral 29, and that may conveniently be made from fiatspring metal. The clip 29 has curved yielding arms 30 that are so formedin opposed relation as to hold the clip upon the nut 26 when slippedover the cylindrical surface 28.

Formed also upon the clip 29 is an arm 31 that is disposed betweenadjacent detent portions 27 when the clip is assembled upon the nut 26.In the form shown, the arm 31 has an aperture 32 that admits one of thedetent portions 27 so that parts of the arm 31 are actually locatedbetween three adjacent detent portions 27, but it is also within thescope of our invention to so form the arm 31 that it will have noaperture and will be disposed between only two of the detent portions27.

Beyond the aperture 32, the end portion of the arm 31 is bent inwardlyat an angle so that it enters the slot 13 or other suitable opening inthe key plug 11, thereby serving through coaction with the detent 27with which the clip is engaged to hold the nut 26 positively against anychange of its adjustment relatively to the key plug 11. Because thereare a relatively large number of the detent portions 27 around thecircumference of the nut 26 and the nut may be turned so as to bring anyone of these detent portions in position to be held by the clip 29, theclip is capable of holding the nut 26 in very close adjustment, and thedesired adjustment of the key plug 11 in the cylinder will be maintainedwithin very fine limits. It is believed that the advantages of our noveladjustable key plug will now be apparent, and that its operation will beclear from the foregoing description.

We now claim:

1. In a lock of the class described, a cylinder, a key plug rotatable insaid cylinder, a threaded portion on said key plug, a nut on saidthreaded portion having a circular outer periphery, said nut retainingsaid key plug in said cylinder and adjusting the endwise clearance ofthe key plug relatively to the cylinder when rotated on said threadedportion, an opening in the threaded portion of said key plug, a cliphaving parts extending in opposed directions on the circular peripheryof said nut to hold the clip on the nut, the circular periphery of thenut having grooves extending longitudinally thereon, an arm on said clippositioned in at least one of said grooves and extending into theopening in the threaded portion of the key plug whereby to lock the nutto the key plug for rotation therewith, said clip yielding for removalof said arm from the groove in which it is positioned, and saidlongitudinally extending grooves formed in closely spaced relation toone another around the circular periphery of the nut to enable the clipto lock the nut when the nut is adjusted through small angles relativelyto the key plug.

2. In a lock of the class described, a cylinder, a key plug rotatable insaid cylinder, a threaded portion on said key plug, a nut on saidthreaded portion retaining said key plug in said cylinder and adjustingthe endwise clearance of the key plug relatively to the cylinder whenrotated on said threaded portion, a longitudinal slot in said key plug,a clip, a pair of arms on said clip extending in opposed directions onthe periphery of the nut to hold the clip on the nut, the periphery ofthe nut having grooves extending through one face of the nut, a part onsaid clip entering at least one of the grooves and extending from saidat least one groove into the slot in the key plug at said face of thenut whereby to lock the nut to the key plug for rotation therewith, thesaid pair of arms on said clip yielding for movement of said part of theclip relatively to the nut for adjustment of the nut relatively to thekey plug, and said longitudinally extending grooves formed in closelyspaced relation to one another around the periphery of the nut to enablethe clip to lock the nut when the nut is adjusted through small anglesrelatively to the key plug.

3. In a lock of the class described, a cylinder, a key plug rotatable insaid cylinder, a threaded portion on said key plug, a nut on saidthreaded portion having a circular outer periphery, said nut retainingsaid key plug in said cylinder and adjusting the endwise clearance ofthe key plug relatively to the cylinder when rotated on said threadedportion, a longitudinal slot in said key plug, a clip, pair of arms onsaid clip extending in opposed directions on the periphery of the nut tohold the clip on the nut, the circular periphery of the nut havinggrooves extending through one face of the nut, a part on said clipentering at least one of the grooves and extending from said at leastone groove at said one face of the nut into the slot in the key plugwhereby to lock the nut to the key plug for rotation therewith, the saidpair of arms on said clip yielding for movement of said part of the clipaway from said at least one groove in the nut, and said longitudinallyextending grooves formed in closely spaced relation to one anotheraround the circular periphery of the nut to enable the clip to lock thenut when the nut is adjusted through small angles relatively to the keyplug.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS743,544 Myers Nov. 10, 1903 874,544 Schmidt Dec. 24, 1907 1,001,369Diehl Aug. 22, 1911 1,112,246 Adler Sept. 29, 1914 1,176,718 PhillipsMar. 21, 1916 1,705,270 Segal Mar. 12, 1929 1,725,544 Segal Aug. 20,1929 2,580,882 Blohm Jan. 1, 1952 2,609,679 Bremer et al. Sept. 5, 1952FOREIGN PATENTS 170,985 Canada July 25, 1916 581,213 Great Britain Oct.4, 1946 915,061 France July 8, 1946

